Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Who'd have thought my project would change oh so dramatically?Ok so my dog died two days ago. I intend to travel to Wanganui to collaborate with the Rayner brothers, artists who run a gallery specializing in the creation of ceramic characters. I plan to make a ceramic figurine/urn to put the ashes of my dog in. I will film this process and turn it into a documentary. Along the way I will interview family members about their thoughts on my dogs life. I already have footage of her during her last moments on earth, being taken to the vet to be put down etc. I plan to interview the vet and ask him about the emotional aspects of having to put down animals. I could even ask the rayner brothers themselves about animal death and doggy after life. Overall I feel confident about this as its geared more toward the sort of direction i wish to pursure a career in. At this stage I am unsure of my 'point of difference' other than the fact that its a quirky documentary about a family pet dying and the impact that such an event has, and the questions it raises.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Via ways of digitized spheres Ive managed to summon the heads of Stink Magnetic Record Co. to further inform me of their most prominent ongoing creation that is The Mysterious Tape Man and his band of merry goast goolz (I dun a interview). This should allow further clairvoyant access into the realms of bands that dress well. In regards to the progression of my own work for previously mentioned Mr and Ms Diamante, Ive been crafting a series of logos that are below the accepted norm (they could be better). With a Western/sci-fi scheme running through the bones of their operation, I appropriated a bunch of images from these sites for further inspiration:http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/100-illustrated-horror-film-posters-part-1/http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/100-illustrated-horror-film-posters-part-2/

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Initial concept to Devo was formed from two of the original band members collaborating with an artist. Together in these preconceiving stages they performed several art pieces based around the concept of 'de-evolution' - the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to regress. This is an idea strongly upheld in many Devo videos as often, they take a very standard and conventional American ideal or household stereotype and deconstruct it using surrealist methods. Aesthitically, their overall output as a band uses this approach. Devo would often perform in the guises of theatrical characters such as Booji Boy and Chinaman. Booji boy (See Fig 1.) is a character intended to satire infantile regression in Western Culture, a quality Devo enjoyed expressing. It seems this character was a somewhat of a spokesperson for a whole world of characters crafted by the band. Ranging in alternative portrayals of music execs to exaggerated macho-ism, these characters both played by Devo themselves and outsider actors, all existed within a world named "Spudland". This alternate universe was a pastiche and parody of the real world, self-reflecting our reality in a surreal manner.

So aesthetically, this concept of parodying everything that is wrong in western culture was projected through themes in the lyrics of songs, recurring characters and the visual style the band placed themselves in as a whole.

Front man Mark Mothersbaugh notes:

We were constantly misunderstood by the record company, critics, and every1 around us. Our sense of humor was ironic humor, we were so far out and had such a vocabulary already put together by the time we became public. Becoz we worked for so many years in Akron, just coming up with our own choreography, mysic, philosophies, politics, wardrobe, the films, everything... our own slangs. Ppl kept trying to put us in categories & we didnt really fit in with the punks and we didnt fit in with the new wave. We didnt party with all the rock n roll ppl. We didnt take drugs. We didnt do anything that would have really made it easy to figure out what we were about, and the irony in our humor often threw ppl off from what the message was. They thought "oh, they're just kidding or, they don't take what theyre doing srsly". The record companies thought of us as just clowns and quirky & they'd put out press releases that would say "that quirky, zany band."

Fig 2. An image from a music video intended to parody the primal characteristics of man.

One thing i've learnt through researching this particular band is that besides having a solid concept that they follow, as opposed to a band like Gorillaz having one for the sake of it, their concept actually has a deep and important message with a purpose. In that it portrays their idea of things that are weird or interesting about the western world, produced ironically and in a parody sense.

So with the band I'm branding I really nee to cast themes important to the band in order to output anything visually (thinking for live visuals here).

Fig 3. Screen cap from a music vid of a band member working at a radio active power plant. This is from Devo's era during their progression into electronic-driven music that coincided with their persona's of being based in an industrial wasteland.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Figured out how to post properly again. I am smart. Aight so first call of action will be to study some bands that are conceptual. hopefully this will allow me to study elements of what has worked in the past etc. I sent out a facebook post asking people to cast their knowledge of concept bands. Feedback i got was quite helpful. thanks public. Here are some potential contenders listed:

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

So this here blog has become my process work for honors major project. First things first, I've ditched pursuing the TIMOTHY idea as a main focus for major. What I've done is pushed him over to my OTHER paper (my post grad one) to THAT project which is on the study of hipsters. So triangle man may be fitting in mildly over on my tumblr. Thank god it wont be playing such a major part, that shit was getting stressful. My tumblr already had hipster stuff on it so it made sense not to start blogging about hipperz on here despite this already being TIMOTHY themed. IT JUST MAKES MORE SENSE THIS WAY.

So from here on, my major project has taken an entirely new direction. For all yew loyal fanatics who care:

Is it just me or has blogspot functionality changed? has it been THAT long since blogging that iv'e forgotten how to blog? this sucks, jiss wanted ti put the above statement in bold for impact.

So the pitch would go liek thiss: (so many colons already)New ways in which designers can collaborate with musicians in a digital world (referring of course to how all music is now net driven and things like album covers are foreign and weird) what can be done? A noticeable trait of bands currently in the music scene is that more and more are becoming conceptual. Bands like Kazam Blam, Gorillaz or Tapeman use stage personas consisting of costumes, often accompanied by live projected visuals that help tell a narrative or add to the overall concept aesthetically. So with this in mind I want to state the importance of how designers can play a part in this by branding a currently existing band. The band being 47 Diamantes cawze they are kill dudes! This would include designing the overall concept which would include characters (potentially), live visuals and logo etc that all play a part in the overall output. So with this i will post investigative research soonz.

Friday, July 30, 2010

OMG who ever thought the blog would come back! Just posting a sub-manifesto digital snap of how everything is relative. Maybe this is what life = pizza means? Not gonna explain that further. Is this sincere? it seems to be lacking abbreviations and cuteness. I might start using this blog as process work, as the original underlying concept to this blog which was a story if you hadn't noticed has become (or is about to become something other than my buddy flickr or fakebook/nah just jokes, love you fbook yor my boi) something bigger. Read from the start to get a jist maybe?! My intentions are still so vague though. How interesting is that? hypehypehypehypehype

Monday, March 1, 2010

The hard thing about being straight up with people is that you are left in a vulnerable state. You can easily put on a cheesy persona to accommodate for enthusiastic conversation but at the end of the day you are not being honest and telling the truth.How dark.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

My Film review/analysis of a light hearted story of an orphan boy and orca whale.

Willy is free - he gets caught by marine peopleJesse is free - he is caught by policeWilly is put in an aquariumJesse is put in a foster homeBoth the whale and the boy meet (orphan - orca. connection?)Jesse is angry cause he has no parentsWilly is a sad whale cause he's away from his familyJesse likes the colour blueWilly lives in the ocean (also blue)Jesse plays with the harmonica that makes weird wailing noisesWilly makes weird whaley noisesWilly is another name for penisJesse has a penisWilly moves majestically in wavesJesse spray paints majestic wave designsWilly makes waves with his tailJesse has a mulletWilly is restricted in his tank enclosureJesse is restricted in his foster homeWilly has a floppy finJesse falls in water and becomes floppy from nearly drowningJesse throws fish for Willy and feedsThe bonding beginsA friendship is formed - two lonely mammals united as oneA social structure is important to an orcaA family is important to an orphanOrcas love to be touchedOrphans... never mindI wonder if they purpousfully kept Willy in a small enclosure to make his fin flap over whilst filming the movie. Some people do sick things to animals for their own personal benefit. I saw a clip on youtube from the 1960s of a scientist giving a cat LSD. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Would a whale be affected by LSD?Willy and Jesse clearly have a special bond. Their friendship is exploited when Willy's owner wants to gain profit from merchandise between the two entangled love-mammals.Willy is non-responsive and ruins show.Jesse is confused.Willys life is at stake as Willys owner tries to kill Willy to claim insurance money.Jesse takes WillyWilly is gratefulJesse frees WillyWilly has found a familyThrough hard work and the cooperation involved in freeing a seventeen hundred pound whale, Jesse has formed a social structure around him of all those willing to care for him.Two lonely and disconnected beings helped each other to become wholesome.AWW.

I think there used to be a cartoon of free willy where the whale talked. They did the same thing with bill and ted and back to the future. Whatever happened to cartoons made from successful blockbuster movies.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Here's a wee sculpture I made with the assistance of Circa Diana/Ginger Carrington. The Rayner Brothers (neat old fullahs who run a gallery in Whanganui) distributed these ET ceramic figures to a whole bunch of artists for them to decorate. I took the head off mine and put it on a waving Lucky cat (it actually waaaves. Thanks Chinatown in Melbourne).